


It's That Easy

by NotEvenCloseToStraight



Series: Short Stories! [34]
Category: Deadpool - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha Harry, Alpha Norman, Alpha Wade, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Awkwardness, Blow Jobs, Bonding, Bottom Peter Parker/Top Wade Wilson, But Peter Doesn't Realize it At First, Developing Relationship, Drunk Peter is Horny, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Sexual Content, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff and Smut, Hand Jobs, Happily Ever After, Imprinting, Inappropriate Humor, Knotting, M/M, Manipulative Relationship, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Misunderstandings, Omega Peter, Peter is Homeless, Platonic Bed Sharing, Possessive Behavior, Protective Wade Wilson, Relationship Negotiations, Sharing a Heat, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Wade is a Good Alpha, Wade is a Saint, Weasel is a good bro, breaking up, commission, he tries, slight angst, suppressants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-13 02:43:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18023270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotEvenCloseToStraight/pseuds/NotEvenCloseToStraight
Summary: After an emotional break up with Alpha!Harry, Omega!Peter is determined to find his own way in the world.A heat that comes on too quickly lands him at Weasel's bar, the domain of one very Alpha Wade Wilson, who takes one look at Peter and knows they they are meant to be mates.Wade doesn't think Peter wants to be matched with an Alpha at all, much less an Alpha that looks like him, so he keeps things platonic, ignoring his feelings so Peter feels safe.Peter wants more from the Alpha than just a text messages and hilarious-but-inappropriate jokes and over drinks one night, he asks Wade to share his next heat.Was finding real love as easy as a chance meeting at a crappy bar?~~~“He wants me to hold him.” Wade folded his arms and ducked his chin. “I don’t know how to do that.”"I can google it for you?” Weasel shrugged. “But you just sorta put your arms around him and squeeze. Kindergarten stuff, right?”The Alpha scowled. "I want to hold him, I just can’t.”“Oh you mean because of the old avocado hate f*cking another avocado thing?” Weasel pointed to Wades face. “Don’t sweat it, I hear millennials love avocados. He should be fine.”"You're the worst."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A commission from my tumblr!

“Harry?” Peter stumbled out of the bedroom in nothing but his Alpha’s pajama pants, the flannel bottoms dragging the floor and nearly tripping him as he rubbed at his eyes sleepily. “Harry, where are you? Come back to bed, babe. It’s still early and good Alpha’s give their Omega’s blowjobs before–” **  
**

“Pete!” Harry jumped up from his seat at the kitchen table and cut his boyfriend off with a kiss, inclining his head towards the and muttering, “Please don’t finish that sentence, my dad is here. He’s finishing up a call, so go put some clothes on before he sees you and makes some comment about me letting you be lazy.”

“Of course your dad’s here.” Peter muffled a groan into his hands and turned back to head towards the bedroom. “I’ll go get dressed before your father judges me and finds me wanting, hm?”

“Pete.” The Alpha said in exasperation. “He’s not  _that_ bad.”

“He really is.” Peter groused, digging through his drawers for something acceptable to wear. “You know I hate that we can’t just relax around him, Harry. Why do you invite him over when all he does is act like we aren’t good enough? This is our  _home_ , not a boardroom. I shouldn’t have to pretend to be a–”

“Please.” Harry cupped Peter’s jaw, pleading with his Omega. “Please just don’t make a scene? Dad’s helping me a lot right now with work, please just play nice. For me.”

“I’ll play nicer after a cup of coffee.” Peter was still irritated, but he managed a smile for his boyfriend. 

It wasn’t really Harry’s fault that Norman was controlling and intrusive and about a thousand other things that got on Peter’s nerves, but he would have been happy if his Alpha had drawn  _some_ boundaries with his dad. It was beyond awkward to have Norman over whenever he felt like showing up, the older Alpha spreading about the space like he owned it, talking to Peter as if the Omega was  _his_ and not Harry’s…

Something about Norman’s entire demeanor it made Peter’s skin crawl, but he knew better than to complain too much. It was easier to just stay quiet and hope the Alpha left quickly so he and Harry could go back to being  _normal_ together.

“Peter, you’re just barely awake?” Norman Osborn spoke up the minute Peter got back to the kitchen, the Alpha’s dark gaze flicking disapprovingly over his hurried dress job. “It’s almost eight am, Harry’s been doing paperwork for over an hour. Do you always sleep this late?”

“Good morning, Mr. Osborn.” Peter sighed, but when Harry sent him a pleading look, he forced a smile and added, “Sorry about that, just moving a little slow this morning.”

“Hm.” Norman made a sort of disgruntled noise, then sat back at the table to start looking over some of the files Harry had spread out.

The Alpha was uncharacteristically quiet as Harry got Peter some toast and coffee, foregoing his usual comment about ‘ _Omega’s serving Alpha’s, not the other way around_ ’. He was even quiet when Peter leaned in to kiss Harry again, and when Peter’s phone started to ring with some annoyingly jaunty tune, but the moment he saw Peter shaking pills out of his suppressant bottle–

—“You’re still taking those suppressants?” Norman asked, sounding genuinely surprised, and Peter swallowed awkwardly before answering– “Of course?”

“I was under the impression that they weren’t working for you anymore.” The Alpha clarified. “Harry was saying there was an incompatibility between these pills and your biology, that they weren’t working very well.”

“Oh.” Peter took another sip of water before answering, quietly wondering why his Alpha had felt the need to share  _that_ bit of information with his dad. “Well yes, these ones don’t work very well for me anymore. I’m not sure if I’ve built up a tolerance or if the make-up of the pills have changed, but the last three or four months they haven’t been doing they’re supposed to.”  

Norman raised his eyebrow, obviously waiting for more of an explanation and Peter inwardly groaned before adding “My pre heat mood swings are getting more extreme, and my heat itself is starting to last closer to five days instead of just three. Between the pre heat symptoms and the actual heat, I’m exhausted for days afterwards, too. I missed almost two weeks of school last month and I can’t afford to do that again.”

“The other day there was a fight on the subway and Pete called me in tears.” Harry reached out and squeezed the Omega’s hand. “Couple of Alpha’s going at it, but without his suppressants he was so affected by their hormones that it nearly sent him into a panic attack.”

“The suppressants just stopped working altogether?” Norman didn’t even seem like he was listening, jotting notes down on a memo as he asked, “Or have you had to up your dosage? You have to be careful with that, you know. Too much of a suppressant dose and you’ll compromise your fertility, then you might as well be a Beta.” 

“I know I have to be careful.” A little annoyed that the older Alpha thought it was necessary to tell him how to use Omega-specific suppressants– and deciding to ignore the comment about his  _fertility_ – Peter continued, “Anyway, I think it’s my blood type. I’m RH-negative so certain medications don’t work on me anyway, and now the suppressants aren’t either. It takes a double dose just to get some sort of an effect, and I know that’s not ideal, but I don’t really have any other choice.”

“Hm.” Another disgruntled sort of noise, but Norman didn’t expand on whatever he was thinking..

“I was wondering though–” Peter sent his future father in law a hesitant smile. “–Harry tells me one of the divisions at Oscorp are working on developing suppressants specifically for Omega’s with rare blood types? Something specifically tailored to each person’s biology?”

“That is very very expensive, Peter.” Norman stated. “It’s still in the testing phase, it will be years before it’s marketable to the general public. I don’t know why Harry would have bothered to tell you something that won’t matter for you in the long run.”

“Right, no I know that’s still a while away.” Peter chose to ignore the comment about the suppressants not mattering for him too, not wanting to pick a fight with the Alpha. “But I was thinking, if you could approve me to be part of the test group, then I could get suppressants that work the way they’re supposed to. It would settle my biology and it wouldn’t cost us too much.”

Norman was quiet and Peter rushed to continue– “Really, anything would work better than my current suppressants, and if I don’t figure something out soon, I’ll have to drop out of school and then I’ll lose my scholarship. It’s mostly Alpha’s in my courses and I’m too susceptible to their hormones right now. Plus with my heats being so bad, I’m looking at missing two classes a month in each course and I’ll fail at that rate.”

The Alpha was silent for another moment before finally saying, “Harry, I was under the impression that since Peter’s suppressants weren’t working, he simply wasn’t taking them anymore. I thought you two had decided to stop dealing with suppressants all together.”

“I didn’t say that exactly.” Harry started and Peter blurted, “Why would I stop taking my suppressants? That’s crazy!”

“Well, I’d assumed since you two have been doing  _this_ –” Norman motioned between their bodies. “– for close to two years, that you’d eventually bond and have a child. Harry is set to take on a corporate level position in Oscorp here in the next few years and Peter, it isn’t safe for older Omegas to get pregnant so when he told me the suppressants weren’t working, we agreed the next logical step was for you to go off them completely.”

“Older Omegas?” Peter repeated. “ _Older Omegas_? I’m twenty three, Mr. Osborn. That’s nowhere near too old to have children and even if it were, Harry and I have no plans to have a child anytime soon. What do you mean you and he agreed to–”

“Dad, just leave it be.” Harry reached out with one hand to placate Peter. “Pete and I haven’t talked about anything like that yet.”

“But you and I  _have_ talked about it!” Norman objected loudly and Harry winced. “Peter, my son is too afraid to tell you, but we both think it’s time for you to stop taking your suppressants. There’s no reason for you to continue on with your schooling once the children come anyway, you’ll be far too busy taking care of them to care about your books. Really it’s for the better.”

“You  _both_ think that?” Peter whirled around to stare at his Alpha in shock. “Harry, do you think I should give up school?”

“Maybe not– maybe not right now?” Harry was floundering, caught between a father who wanted things his way, and an Omega who looked close to tears. “But eventually, yeah. It’s not like I’d give up  _my_ work to stay home with kids, and you’d have to leave school anyway once you’re pregnant, so–”  

“I DON’T WANT CHILDREN!” Peter shouted. “I want to finish my degree and go to work!”

“Not right now you don’t want children.” Norman soothed him and Peter really thought he might scream. “But once you’re off the suppressants for a few months and your biology kicks back in full force, you’ll feel differently. Omega’s always do. You’ll see. A few months and you’ll be begging Harry for a knot–”

“DAD!”

“I’m just saying!” Norman raised his voice when Harry did. “Don’t look so surprised Harry, it’s not like you don’t know how kids are made. Nothing makes a man feel more like an Alpha than an Omega who desperately wants a baby, you’ll see.”

“Harry?” Peter did tear up then, scrambling to figure out how his morning had gone bad so quickly, thrown by the knowledge that his Alpha had apparently planned out their future without ever consulting him. “Is this– you want me to go off my suppressants? You want me to quit school? I thought you supported me getting my degree.”

“I do, Pete.” Harry reached for Peter’s hand, but the Omega backed up a few steps and Norman snorted over the show of defiance. “I do support you going to school but your suppressants aren’t working right now anyway so–”

“–so instead of taking steps to fix it so I can keep doing what I want, you think I should stop altogether and do the housewife-Omega thing.” Peter finished. “You want me to settle for a life I don’t want because it’s the easiest thing to do?”

“Peter, you’re being unreasonable.” Norman commented, signing a few documents as if he couldn’t care less about the increasingly distraught Omega. “Harry, take the day off and talk to him. Hopefully by tonight he’ll be feeling better and–”

“Do  _not_ talk about me like I’m not here.” The Omega snarled, low and furious and Harry cocked his head and rumbled something soft, trying to calm him down. “You two sat down and decided all of this without even asking me? Mr. Osborn, you’ve known me my whole life but that doesn’t give you the right to dictate anything. And Harry–you haven’t even imprinted on me yet! Two years and your Alpha hasn’t imprinted on me as mate and you think I’m going to stop going to school for you? This is insane!”

“Pete, just take a few deep breaths and–”

“I’m out of here.” Peter grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. “Harry, when you start talking sense you can call me and I’ll come home.”

“Pete, wait–!”

The door slammed behind him, shaking the pictures on the wall and Harry slumped into a seat, dropping his face into his hands. “Dad, I told you not to bring that up around Pete. He hates being reminded that most Omega’s don’t go to school or work. He hates that sort of thing.”

“What did he think was going to happen?” Norman asked mildly, pushing a form over for Harry to sign as well. “Even if he went through with getting his degree, Omega’s aren’t hired for the kind of work he wants to do. No science institute worth its salt would hire an Omega, certain people just can’t do certain jobs and Omega’s aren’t meant to work in high stress environments.”

“He’s smart, Dad.” Harry said quietly. “He’s smart and he knows what he wants to do and he’d be good at it. We can’t just take that away from him.”

“I know he’s smart, I wouldn’t have given him the scholarship if I thought he was stupid.” Norman stated. “But there’s a time where everyone has to grow up. By the way, your Alpha hasn’t imprinted on him yet? It’s been two years, what’s the hold up?”

“You can’t rush this sort of thing.” Harry muttered. “It just hasn’t happened. I know he’s right for me, but we can’t bond unless I imprint so–”

“–so you’ve wasted two years on an Omega who doesn’t want to give you a family.” Norman laughed as if it were the stupidest thing he’d ever heard. “Bra-vo son. Bra- _vo_.”

********************

********************

It was past dinner time when Peter finally made it back to the loft, letting himself into the apartment and tossing his keys on the counter. “Harry?”

“Pete, you’re home.” Harry jumped to his feet and wrapped Peter in a hug, pushing his nose into the Omega’s neck and breathing in deep. “I was worried about you babe, you didn’t answer my calls or my texts and I tried like a dozen times. I’m so glad you’re home.”

“Harry.” Peter put several steps worth of distance between them, holding up his hand and shaking his head when the Alpha tried to get close again. “I need you to be very honest with me right now, because your dad said a lot of things this morning and I’ve been trying to figure it out all day— just be honest with me.”

“Alright.” Harry looked nervous, chewing at his bottom lip and folding his arms he waited for Peter to speak again. “What– what do you need to know?”

Peter had to work very hard to keep his voice very calm, clasping his hands together as he asked–. “Harry, I asked you six weeks ago to ask your dad about getting me in the trial for the new suppressants. Did you ever ask him? Or did you lie to me when you said he would try and help me out,”

Harry looked away and Peter’s heart did something  _awful_ in his chest. “I…I never asked him. I lied and told you he had been busy, but I never actually asked him.

“Okay.” Another deep breath, Peter trying not to let the stink of  _disappointment_ fill his scent. “Do you really think I should give up school and just stay home? You know how important school and a career is to me, would you really make me give it up if there were children?”

“Well I mean–” Harry spread his hands uncomfortably. “–that’s an Omega’s job, Pete. Most Alpha’s wouldn’t let you stay in school this long, you know? It just doesn’t seem right that you’re happier out there than you are here with me.”

“Christ.” Tears, spilling hot down Peter’s cheeks and dripping off his chin. “That’s really what you think? All those times I came home excited about what I was studying? About all those internship possibilities?” 

The color drained from his face, and Harry muttered a curse as Peter whispered, “Did you ever turn in my applications for internships or did you throw them away? Is that why I never got call backs even though I was qualified for all of them?”

Harry was silent,  _guilty_ , and Peter thought he might vomit. “The Stark internship, too? I was the only one in the university who qualified for that internship, but I never got a call back. Is that– is that your fault?”

“I wanted you home with me.” Harry still sounded guilty, but his eyes lit with stubbornness. “You’re gone so much, that’s probably why I haven’t imprinted on you. Can’t imprint on an Omega who doesn’t want to be my mate.”

“You think I don’t want to be your mate?” Peter choked out. “That’s what you think? Harry we’ve been together for years! I wouldn’t have stayed if I didn’t love you.”

“I’m paying your bills.” Harry pointed out, and Peter flinched away,  _disgust_ and  _hurt_ ruining his scent and hanging bitter in the air. “I mean, I thought you stayed because you didn’t have anywhere else to go. Aunt May’s gone and you don’t have any money. If you weren’t going to settle down and start a family with me, why else were you sticking around/” 

“I always thought we’d be mates, Harry.” Peter shook his head, putting both hands up and backing away from the Alpha. “But I want to be  _more_ than just your mate. I want more out of life than to just  _belong_ to an Alpha. You knew that. You always knew that about me. I thought you understood.” 

“And after today–” it took all of Peter’s strength to walk past Harry and down the hall to their bedroom, to pull a suitcase from the close and start packing. “After today I don’t care if you imprint on me or not, Harry. Even if we  _were_ mates, you don’t have the right to make decisions like this about my life and the fact that you did makes me sick.” 

Harry stood in the doorway and watched Peter pack, stood there and watched as the Omega took his books off the shelves and his toiletries from the bathroom and when Peter was done, Harry moved out of the way so there was room for him to pass.

“Don’t leave, Pete.” He finally said as Peter was peeling his house key off the key chain and dropping it on the table. “Don’t leave. We’ll figure this out. We’ve figured everything else out, this will work out too. It’s just a fight. We’re fine.”

“This isn’t like ‘which side of the bed do you want’ or ‘where are we going to eat tonight’.” Peter said sadly. “This is you and your dad deciding that I have no reason to continue school, this is denying me a chance to get suppressants that will give me a real chance at a career. This is you as an  _Alpha_ deciding that what you want is more important than what I want.”

“I want you, babe.” Harry snatched at Peter’s hand, brushing a kiss over his knuckles and rumbling coaxingly. “I want  _you_. Stay with me.”

“Not having working suppressants has been terrible for me Harry, and now I’m finding out that you could have helped me but decided not to?” Peter pulled his hand free, his knees nearly giving out when Harry’s scent went heavy with  _anger_ , a lack of suppressants making his Omega react to each and every vibe from the Alpha. “What kind of Alpha would let their Omega suffer through bad heats and mood swings and all the other shit I’ve gone through? What kind of Alpha does that make you?”

Harry opened his mouth to argue, and Peter cut him off with a shake of his head. “I’ll see you around, Harry.”

“You’ll lose your scholarship if you break up with me, Pete!” Harry called desperately as Peter walked away. “You can’t go to school without a scholarship!”

“And I can’t go without suppressants either.” Peter called back, forcing himself to keep walking, one foot in front of the other. “So either way I’m screwed, aren’t I?” .

*********************

*********************

The Omega shelter on 34th street was a far cry from the loft Peter had shared with Harry, but it was clean and semi private and most importantly, it was within walking distance of several places that Peter could look for work.

Harry had paid for everything while Peter was in school, so the only money he had was the meager bit in his savings account from the occasional free lance photography job with the Daily Bugle. It was just enough money to pay up his phone bill a few months so it wouldn’t be turned off with a little left over to buy a beat up bicycle so he didn’t have to walk everywhere, and every morning Peter tossed a few snacks and a bottle of water into his backpack and set off to find a job.

The mornings were spent knocking on every door he passed to ask for an application, the afternoon spent in the park or at a coffee shop filling out stacks of paperwork. By three o clock Peter was back on his bike and dropping off the filled out applications before heading back home to the shelter.

Once a week Peter sat at the local library and filled out online applications for the bigger companies, internship opportunities, grants or scholarships available to struggling students, but despite his determination and his best efforts, Peter’s phone never rang with a job interview, and it certainly never rang with a call from  _Harry_.

Not that he wanted to hear from Harry, of course. Never mind that Peter had cried his broken heart out into a pillow for a week straight, and that every night since leaving he’d dreamed about his Alpha. And never mind that with a heat due any minute now, Peter was nearly desperate for someone– _anyone_ – to be there with him and had to physically stop himself from texting or calling Harry and asking him to please help.

Miserable without even low grade suppressants to take the edge of, Peter would have given the last hundred dollars in his savings account to any Alpha that was willing to soothe the pre heat anxiety, to hold him so he could feel the steady heartbeat beneath his ear, someone warm to ease the chills that wouldn’t go away.

It was extra bad today, the heat daze making Peter’s vision blur and his steps unsteady. The cramps were bad enough that he wanted to vomit, and when they receded, the hunger pangs were strong enough to make his knees weak. He was exhausted after weeks of hit and miss sleep, his Omega biology crying out for an Alpha so badly that Peter was half delirious with it all.

And he knew that he should just go back to the shelter and lock himself in a heat-safe room, but Peter had to find a job, had to prove to Harry and Norman that he wasn’t only good for making a family, had to prove to  _himself_ that he could be more than—

“ _Ahh_!” Peter shouted when a violent cramp had him doubling over, lights flashing behind his eyelids as he wavered on the verge of passing out. Another cramp came before the first had even abated and the applications fell from Peter’s hands as he pitched towards the ground, barely catching himself on all fours and crawling towards an alley so he could at least curl into the fetal position and try not to cry. “Fuck fuck fuck—“

“Is someone out here?” There was a crash as something dropped, an unfamiliar voice and the bland scent of a Beta coming closer had Peter trying to hide, rolling into a tighter ball and biting his lip hard enough to bleed.

“Hey, hey, what the hell are you doing man, you can’t sleep here, this isn’t a shelter.” Rough hands at his back tried to roll him over and Peter yanked away with a snarl, his Omega recoiling in fear from anyone that might hurt him.

“Oh hey now.” The Beta’s voice softened when he realized it wasn’t some junkie crashing in the alley, but an Omega who was clearly in pain. “Take it easy bud. What’s going on? What are you doing out here, are you hurt?”

“Heat.” Peter tried to inch closer when the touch turned gentle, desperate for any sort of comfort, even if it was from a Beta. “Too close to my heat. Can’t walk.”

“Oh shit.” The Beta snatched his hands away like he’d been burned. “I?! Shit I uh— I can’t help you with that, kiddo. What— what are you doing out here? This is probably the worst place for an Omega to be. I love my bar, but it’s a shithole man, you don’t want to be here. Why don’t you just uh— go on. Get the hell outta here. I don’t wanna be responsible for anything that happens out here, I need you to keep movin’.”

“But I can’t walk.” Peter was really crying now but couldn’t stop holding his stomach long enough to wipe the tears away. “C-Can’t walk, I need a place to sit down and I need a place to– to–lay down and I need– I need–”

“ _Shit_.” The Beta said again and Peter shut his eyes tight, counting the seconds until the stranger seemed to come to a decision. “Alright kid look, I got a place you can stay, a room in the back. I wouldn’t use the word clean to describe it?  But there’s a sink and a mattress and some water and the— the door locks and you’ll be safe. You just— you can’t stay out here. Can’t have you gettin’ hurt out here, yeah?”

Peter nodded just once, groaning low through another cramp.

“Kay well I gotta pick you up.” The Beta patted at Peter’s hip carefully. “So just um— don’t bite me or whatever. Scratch me with those Omega claws. Come here. Upsie-daisie.”

It was always unsettling to be picked up, and Peter gasped when he was suddenly much farther off the ground than he’d expected to be, the Beta cradling him close as he headed towards a back door to what was apparently a bar.

“So my name’s Weasel.” He said conversationally, kicking the door shut behind them and walking as quickly as he could down a long hallway. “And uh, this is my bar. Sister Margaret’s, but don’t let the name fool you, this is not a convent and the only nuns that drink here are not the sort to teach you Bible verses. Just in general? Avoid anyone dressed like a nun here.”

A jiggle of a doorknob, then a cool blast of stale air and Peter was dumped rather unceremoniously onto a thin mattress balancing on a rickety bed frame.

“Sorry about that.” Weasel pushed thick glasses up his nose and folded his arms uncomfortably. “Felt a little weird to lay you out on a bed so I’m not gonna do that. So anyway uh—I don’t know what sorta thing you need for this? Not an Omega, never dated one, and to tell you the truth heats sort of scare me. I have literally no idea what happens with you people and I don’t really want to know. So um–”

“Thanks Weasel.” Recovered enough from a cramp to talk, Peter whispered the words, and the Beta blinked in surprise. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Wait tables or something after.”

“Uh yep. Sure that’s—“ Weasel glanced around the room, then nudged a case of water closer to the mattress. “Yeah that’s fine. I’m gonna go because this is weird. The door locks from the inside so lock it good. I’ll barricade the outside too and there’s a button here on the wall that buzzes the bar, don’t ask why, you don’t want to know the sordid little history of this place. But you push it if you need something, okay? I’ll try to help you out in a– in a way that doesn’t involve me being in here too much, yeah?”

“Thank you.” Peter said again, feeling around for a water bottle and downing most of it in one go, a half contented purr curling the edges of the words as he finally started to relax, to feel safe. “Seriously. You’re saving me.”

“Um–” not sure what to do with a purring Omega, Weasel shrugged and offered a half hearted– “ _Grrrrr_ …?” before shrugging and heading out the door, turning the lock as he went.

Peter lay back against the pillows and told himself to take deep breaths, willing his body to settle. This wasn’t the most ideal situation, but he was warm and he was safe and the mattress and blankets smelled faintly of Alpha, so he closed his eyes and let the exhaustion send him to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wade meets Peter and its so soft I dieeeeeeeeeeee

Weasel had the best intentions in mind, but he had no idea what to do with an Omega in general much less an Omega in heat, and to be honest, he didn’t  _want_ to do anything with an Omega in heat.  _So awkward_. His solution was simple but brilliant– pile boxes in front of the back room door so no one would mess with it, and only go back if the buzzer rang.

He kept a constant supply of water piled in the hall so it was close, stood at the doorway and scooted greasy plates of fries across the floor, and when the Omega started looking  _ick_ even by Weasel’s standards, he tossed a pack of baby wipes in there too so the kid could at least wipe all the various…liquids… off his legs.

 _So awkward_.

Any questions as to what Weasel was doing in the back was met with sarcasm and snark and the occasional threat, and for the most part no one in the bar knew there was an Omega there at all. And it probably would have been fine for another few days–  _absolutely_ would have been fine– in fact, Weasel was the closest he’d ever been to successfully keeping a secret in his life– but then Deadpool showed back up and everything went right to shit.

“Hey Wade.” Weasel didn’t even blink when the mercenary swaggered through the door and dropped a pile of cash on the bar, just swept the whole mess into a bag and tossed it in the floor safe. “How’d it go this time around?”

“You know how these things are.” The Alpha reached behind Weasel and snagged a bottle of tequila, ripping the cork out with his teeth and spitting it to the side before taking a long swig. “Unicorn farts and sunshine and dead guys with chunks of their heads blown out.”

“Oh that’s nice and descriptive, ain’t it.” Weasel took the tequila back before Wade drank too much of it, smacking the Alpha’s hand when he tried to grab for more. “Maybe eat something, man. You look like shit.” he took a closer look and then shrugged. “But to be fair, you always look like shit. Do you look worse this time? Like, is your face getting worse? Is that even possible?”

“Your words are always a comfort, Weasel.” Wade said dryly, and pulled his hood a little higher over his face to hide the scars, his sleeves down over his hands. “Got anything new for me to do?”

“You just got here.” Weasel set the bottle up high so Wade couldn’t reach it. “Might be a good idea to hang out for a minute, yeah?”

“Yeah, alright. I’ll hang out for a minute.” Wade raised non existent eyebrows and waited exactly sixty seconds .before asking, “So you got anything new for me?”

“I dunno man.” Weasel pushed his clunky glasses up his nose. “You want my opinion?”

“No.” Wade said blandly. “I definitely don’t, but thanks anyway.”

“I think this whole killing thing is getting out of control.” Weasel completely ignored Wade and spoke his mind anyway. “I know you’re good at it, got the weird nickname and all that but it wouldn’t be the worst sorta thing if you just like… threw darts every once in a wh- _ILE_!”

Weasel didn’t mean to shriek when the Alpha grabbed his collar and forcefully pulled him over the counter, but to be fair, he always wanted to shriek anytime he was this close to the disaster that was Wade Wilson’s fucking  _face_. “What the hell are you doing?! Let go!”

“What do you smell like?” Any hint of laughter or friendliness was gone from the Alpha’s voice, a growl pushing the words heavy and  _dangerous_. “What do you smell like?”

“Uh– It’s uh Axe body spray? Dark Temptation mixed with a little Anarchy for Him? I dunno this new girl that’s been coming in told me she liked how I smelled so I thought–” the Beta wheezed a cough when Wade’s fingers tightened at his throat. “– oh you mean the Omega?”

“You smell like Omega heat.” Wade snapped, his eyes starting to tint red, his Alpha restless and anxious in his chest. “ _Why_ do you smell like Omega heat?”  

“There’s one in the back room– he was going into heat– I couldn’t leave him in the alley– thought he might be hurt so–” Weasel hit the floor with a  _thud_ when Wade dropped him, the Alpha stomping towards the back looking menacing enough that the other Alpha’s in the bar scattered out of his way. The Beta’s all averted their eyes, and the two Omega’s in the back corner whined uncomfortably, ducking their heads and cringing away from the  _danger_ rolling from the Alpha’s broad shoulders.

“No no no Wade, don’t go back there!” Weasel had no idea how the hell he was going to stop the Alpha, but he sure as hell tried, throwing himself at Wade’s back and locking his arms around the Alphas neck.

“You are not—“ he  _oophed_ when Wade reached back over his shoulder and flung Weasel off without even trying. “—I told him he’d be safe—“ a flying tackle towards Wade’s knees, grimacing when a snarl ripped from the Alphas throat. “—stop being a fucking knothead and slow the fuck down—I swear I’ll put a bullet in your unkillable ass if you go in there and hurt that kid–”

Weasel shut up abruptly when Wade stopped at the end of the hall and flattened both his palms on the metal frame, rubbing his forehead against the reinforced door and rumbling low in his throat.

“Uh…Wade?” Weasel got to his feet slowly. “You alright?”

“Go away.” Wade’s voice was suddenly very  _very_ quiet, and somehow that was even more terrifying than all the snarling and growling. “Right now. Leave us alone.”

There was a lot about Alpha and Omega dynamic that Weasel would never understand, but  _everyone_ knew when an Alpha first found their mates scent, nothing short of a tank would keep them from finding and claiming their Omega as soon as they could.

It was almost unfair, how easy it was for mated pairs. They fit together perfectly and soothed each other’s edges and had a bond that bordered on telepathic. It was almost too easy, and at the same time, almost unfair because lots of Alpha’s went their entire lives without finding their mate.

But as Weasel watched Wade basically crooning into the door, mumbling sweet things as if the Omega inside could hear him, well it was obvious even to a fairly oblivious Beta what was happening.

 _Lucky bastard_.

“Be careful with him.” Weasel finally said. “I know you’re pretty much ass over noggin right now? But he’s in a bad way, so be careful. I’ll make sure you guys have some privacy.”

“Don’t tell me how to treat my Omega.” The words were low and threatening and Weasel put his hands up to show he meant no harm. “And I’ll kill anyone who comes back here, do you understand? I’ll kill them if they interrupt us.”

“Yeah.” The Beta nodded. “Yeah, I believe that.”

******************

******************

Peter was barely lucid when the door to his little room opened, and even though he didn’t remember buzzing for Weasel, it didn’t mean he hadn’t— this far into an unassisted heat he could hardly keep his eyes open, hardly remember where he was, much less what he may or may not have done a few minutes ago.

He was sweating and soaked with slick, his boxers and undershirt sticking to his body hot and uncomfortable. Peter was exhausted and he was starving but food and sleep wasn’t an option not when Peter was  _empty empty empty_  like this.  _God_ he was so fucking empty, he needed– he  _needed_ –

 _Alpha_.

The heavy scent of Alpha cut through the heat daze and Peter arched off the bed in an instant, an anxious, needy cry falling from his lips, not caring that the Alpha was a stranger, too desperate for any sort of relief to realize he could be putting himself in danger.

Blinded by his heat, every inch of him  _aching_ , needing to be touched and held, he gasped out–“Yes yes yes. Alpha please.  _Please_.”

“Omega.” the Alpha rumbled, arousal thickening in the air between them and just the word alone made Peter sigh, made him go limp and settled his mind enough for him to realize–

 _Alpha_.

“No!” Lucid for just long enough to realize there was a huge, hulking Alpha in the room, Peter was suddenly terrified, scrambling back on the mattress to get as close to the wall as he could, fear turning the drugging heat scent bitter and harsh.

“No no no.” he whimpered. “No, I don’t want–” his traitorous biology had him reaching out for the Alpha again, and he curled into a ball to keep from trying to touch, not even letting himself look at the Alpha. “No, go away. Go away, I don’t want you, I don’t know you and I don’t want you–”

“Easy, Omega.” The arousal lessened, replaced by strong lines of protectiveness, the Alpha’s voice low and soothing, comforting and soft and somehow  _tender_ and despite the anxiety still making his stomach turn, Peter started to relax again. “M’not gonna hurt you, honey, don’t you worry about that.” The Alpha knelt and held both his hands out, palm up so Peter could see he wasn’t holding anything. “Not doin’ so good huh?”

“Hurts.” Peter whined, wrapping both arms around his midsection and holding himself tight, taking open mouthed breaths to get as much of the  _protective_ Alpha scent as he could, feeling his heartbeat settle little by little the longer the stranger was there. “Worse than usual, don’t have suppressants this round.”

“I can help you with that, do you want me to help you with that?” The Alpha crept closer an inch at a time, opening a water bottle and setting it right at Peter’s head, tearing open a few granola bars and putting them close too. “I can get you some suppressants, no problem. Do you need anything else?”

And then, softer and almost vulnerable– “Can I– can I check your temperature? Can I do that? Can I touch you?”

Peter didn’t answer, his eyes shut as he concentrated on breathing and the easy cadence of the Alpha’s voice, but he scooted closer to the edge of the mattress and tipped his head over and–

“Oh-h-h.” A long sigh when a cool palm met his feverish forehead, and another sigh when rough fingers brushed his hair back a little. “Alpha,  _yes_.”

 _Nervousness_ , spiking in the Alpha’s scent for just a split second before it washed with longing, and Peter thought the Alpha might be smiling when he said, “I’m going to go get you a few things, alright? But don’t worry, I’ll be back before you miss me.”

“Mmmm.” Peter’s brow furrowed when the hand moved away, reaching out again in vain. “No–”

“Shhh, sweetheart.” There it was again, longing and tenderness in the deep voice. “I’ll be right back. I promise.”

The door opened and shut again, and Peter had no way of knowing that it had taken every ounce of the Alpha’s self control to even step away from the bed, much less to shut the door behind him, but  _god_ it had about killed Wade.

Every single Alpha instinct in Wade’s body was demanding that he get back in there with the Omega, with his  _Omega_ , his  _mate_. Heat scent was still clogging his nose, his cock so hard in his pants that even taking a step was borderline painful, his mouth watering and fingers itching with the need to pin the Omega down and bite,  _claim_.

But his Omega had been frightened, scooting away from Wade and trying to hide against the wall and that alone had been enough to keep Wade’s head clear, ignoring his body’s needs to keep his actions slow and deliberate and careful, his touch gentle.

And it was crazy, actually  _crazy_ , that Wade had even picked up on what couldn’t have been more than a bare hint of Omega on Weasel’s shirt, and crazier still that he had imprinted immediately, forgetting everything about how shitty this last job had been and how tired he was in favor of tracking down his mate. Just a bit of scent and Wade had stopped caring about anything but his  _mate_.

 _My mate_.

 _Gorgeous_.

Wade’s lips lifted in a smile as he thought about the Omega, dropping his head back against the door to give himself a minute to just  _think_ about long long legs and a soft voice and thick hair and deep dark eyes and ridiculously pretty lips. Even this far into a body-wracking heat, even after days of misery, his mate was gorgeous and Wade couldn’t wait to see a real smile, to hear his mate laugh, to learn his mate’s name.

 _Mate_.

 _Gorgeous_.

Whether he’d been prepared or not, whether it was crazy or not, Wade had imprinted and that little Omega was his to take care of, and Wade was going to take care of him, god damn it.

“Everything okay?” Weasel asked when Wade reappeared, obviously surprised to see him at all. “Is the Omega– I mean, not to be gross or nothing but shouldn’t you be stuck together in some awkward position? The kids in  _heat_ , Wade. What the fuck are you doing out here?”

Across the bar, a pair of Alpha’s head picked up when they heard  _Omega_ and  _heat_ , necks craned and nostrils flaring as they tried to get the scent of heat off of Wade and Weasel muttered a curse when Wade started growling again. “Oh shit, I screwed up didn’t I?”

Both guns were snatched from their holsters in a split second, Wade’s eyes snapping blood red as he pointed the weapons at the other two Alphas. “You take one step towards that room and I will fuck you up.” he said slowly, clearly. “You think I’m kidding? Try it. Take a step. See if I won’t redecorate this shit hole with your goddamn brains. That is my  _mate_ back there, and I will rip your hand off and beat you to death with it if anyone in this place even  _looks_ in that direction. Everybody clear?”

Wade had an unsettling personality quirk of sounding like he was joking even when he threatened people, but there wasn’t a soul in the bar who knew he wasn’t deadly serious at this moment, and one by one they all left, the room emptying with hardly a sound until it was just Wade and Weasel left.

“I’ll be back.” Wade holstered his guns and zipped his hoodie up further. “Don’t go back there.”

“Well I told the kid to buzz if he needed something.” Weasel explained lamely. “If he buzzes I’m gonna go, I don’t want him to think I abandoned–” Wade levelled him with a glare and the Beta backpedaled hastily. “Actually, I’m just going to wipe some tables down and count out the till for the night. Yep, that’s what I’m doing.”

Wade grunted something in agreement and stomped out the door.

He needed to get a few things for his mate.

******************

******************

Military grade emergency suppressants were shockingly expensive and difficult to come by, but Wade was an Alpha that didn’t take no for an answer, so after a call to one of the less-sketchy contacts in his phone and a cab ride towards the docks, he was back at Weasels in no more than an hour with a packet of pills and a box full of supplies.

Weasel just sort of waved when the Alpha stomped past, given a snarl and warning to, “Stay away, Weasel.” for his efforts, so he just sighed and went back to cleaning.

Wade knocked on the door, waiting with bated breath for his Omega to tell him to come in, and once permission was given he stepped inside and crooned a soft greeting that was echoed by a quiet whine.

“I told you I’d be right back, baby.” He whispered and went right to work fixing up the room.

The door locked six different ways, and Wade locked them all, jamming a chair under the doorknob for good measure. Next he turned off the lights, figuring the Omega would be sensitive to light anyway, and wanting to give himself a better chance at hiding. Just because he had imprinted  _mate_ didn’t mean the Omega had any such  inclinations, and since heated Omega’s were jumpy Omegas, the last thing he wanted was to make his mate scream with too soon a look at his ugly mug.

“Juice.” Wade crouched down and offered his mate a sip from the bottle, shivering when slim fingers closed around his wrist to held steady as he drank. “Take some more, honey. You need lots after a few days of heat, okay?”

“Mm, thank you.” The Omega wasn’t slurring his words as much, and Wade knew that meant he was between waves of heat, as lucid as he’d be until it finally broke. “Thank you.”

“Suppressants.” Wade shook the pills out into the Omega’s hand, ready with another sip of juice to wash it down. “This is the good shit right here, should start working real quick.”

Needing a distraction from how badly he wanted to just collapse on the mattress and lose himself in the mind drugging scent of  _heat_ and  _Omega_ and  _mate_ , Wade started picking up trash and tossing away discarded water bottles, keeping up a steady stream of chatter when he became unnerved by the quiet in the room.

“Yeah, those drugs too legit to quit, strong enough to mcfuck an Alpha up too, if you can believe that. They give it to Omega spies before missions to neutralize ‘em and usually they are locked away, but I know a guy who knows a guy who is friends with sketchy people so I was able to get my grubby paws on a handful. Should stop all the heat hallucinations and general–” he made a vague motion. “– sweatiness and hopefully settle your stomach.”

“I tell ya, I dunno how you Omega’s do it, if I leaked from various orifices for a few days every month I’d blow my brains out but hey, I’ve never claimed to be an equal opportunity partner when it comes to that bullshit.” Wade kept rambling, double checking the locks on the door and trying not to groan as the hard edge of the heat scent started to ease, slipping into something much sweeter and enticing as the suppressants took effect. “I’d much rather you guys deal with it, I’ll stick with a perpetually bad attitude and what amounts to an inflatable tumor at the base of my dick. You Omegas have it so much worse than Alphas do, I’d never want to–”

“Alpha, will you hold me?” The quiet question interrupted what was gearing up to be a spectacularly stupid ramble, and Wade blinked over at the Omega in surprise, straining to make out his expression in the dark.

“I mean, you don’t have to?” The Omega continued, and  _fuck_ , he sounded shy and it was so cute Wade could have melted. “But you’ve been really nice to me, and somehow I know I’m safe with you, so will you hold me?”

“You want–” Despite the dark, Wade tightened his hood around his face. “– you don’t even know me.”

“But being around an Alpha is helping with all of this.” the Omega said, sounding weary and exhausted and fairly close to tears. “And you’re being so nice to me. Will you just come sit by me for a minute? Just a minute. Please?”

“Um, why don’t you get cleaned up first?” Wade was helpless against the thought of his mate crying, but he needed a minute to make sure he was under control first, fighting to keep his Alpha’s  _want_ from overshadowing the calming protective vibe he was trying to give his mate. “The water in that sink only runs cold, but it’s clean at least. And I got some wash cloths and deodorant, new sheets and blankets for the bed and I don’t know what size clothes you wear but I grabbed some for you anyway so you can change out of those ones. Get cleaned up and then I’ll come back.”

“Do I stink?” Embarrassment slid into the Omega’s scent, and Wade could almost picture a blush on the pale skin, the image making him want to growl. “Sorry, it’s been an awful few days.”

“You don’t stink.” he said quickly, truthfully. “But you’ll feel better after at least a wipe down, right? I’m gonna go talk to Weasel for a minute, I’ll be right back.” Wade was moving before he even finished the sentence, locking the door behind him and all but bolting for the front room, vaulting the bar and snatching the first bottle he could get his suddenly shaking hands on.

“Wade, you’re supposed to be taking care of the Omega, not personally trying to bankrupt me by drinking all my liquor.” Weasel took the bottle back with a long suffering sigh. “What the hell are you doing out here again? Do I need to get you that book from the library? ‘ _What’s This Bump On My Dick and How Do I Use It To Make Babies_ ’?”

“He wants me to hold him.” Wade folded his arms and ducked his chin, too overwhelmed by the enormity of the last few hours to even respond to Weasel’s snark. “I don’t know how to do that.”

“….I mean, I can google it for you?” Weasel shrugged. “But basically you just sorta put your arms around him and squeeze. Kindergarten stuff man. I bet there’s a book about that too.”

“You’re being unhelpful.” The Alpha scowled at him. “Dumbass. I got a thousand ways I want to hold that Omega, I just  _can’t_.”

“Oh you mean because of the old avocado hate fucking another avocado thing.” Weasel pointed first to his own face, and then to Wade’s. “Don’t sweat it, I hear millennials love avocados. And toast. He should be fine with it.”

“Why do I come to you for advice?” Wade groaned. “Millennials love avocados? That’s what you have for me? It’s not that easy.” 

“It’s literally that easy, but fine.” Weasel tossed a lemon wedge of questionable age at Wade. “He’ll probably swoon for your arms or shoulders or some other bullshit too. Listen, I don’t get all the Alpha Omega heebie jeebie shit but I  _do_ know that if you imprint on him, he’ll at least feel safe with you,right? Like he has that Omega voodoo that tell him you won’t hurt him?”

“It’s not voodoo.”

“I don’t actually care what it is.” the Beta deadpanned. “M’just saying, he’s probably asking you to hold him because he knows you won’t hurt him. So stop dicking around out here with people who don’t want you, and go hang out with someone who does.”

“Yeah alright.” Wade squared his shoulders. “Alright. Millennials like avocado. I can do this. I can hold him.”

“Sure you can, big guy.” Weasel rolled his eyes. “You’re such a hero, so brave, congratulations.”

*****************

*****************

The suppressants had fully set in by the time the Alpha came back to the room, and Peter had managed a cursory wipe down so he didn’t feel quite as gross, the bedding changed and rolled up in the corner so he was at least sitting on clean blankets.

“Omega.” Warm and possessive, the word curled through Peter’s spine and settled somewhere over his heart and he nearly whimpered from it. He’d never felt that even when  _Harry_ called him Omega, and it was probably definitely just his heat but  _oh god_ , Peter wanted to hear it again.

“ _Alpha_.” he whispered, and the answering, “ **Omega**.” was even deeper, a flash of arousal in the Alpha’s scent that made Peter want to toss his head back and whine, but then  _security_ and  _protective_ wound through as well and somehow, that was even better.

“Feel better, honey?” The Alpha asked and Peter didn’t trust himself to speak again, not with butterflies rioting in his stomach, but he held out his hands pleadingly, hoping the Alpha would just–

“I got you.” The Alpha settled onto the mattress and scooped Peter into his arms with hardly any effort at all, leaning back on the wall and cuddling him close. “Alright?”

Peter still didn’t want to talk, the proximity of such a big Alpha rendering him tongue tied, exhaustion warring with the relief the suppressants gave him, so he just curled into the broad chest and rested his cheek over the steady heart beat, his fingers knotting in the Alpha’s hoodie and a sigh slipping past his lips.

_Safe. Alpha. Warm._

“My name’s Wade.” The Alpha spoke first after several minutes, and Peter pressed tighter in response. “I’m closer to thirty than I am to twenty, and not to freak you out, but I’m pretty much the exact opposite of a cop. The guy who rescued you is Weasel. He isn’t good for much, is more enabler than friend, but he does alright most the time. This is usually my room, where I come down after my jobs and of all the shit Weasel has left in here, you are  _definitely_ the best thing I’ve ever found on my mattress.

Wade immediately felt bad about his choice of words, but his Omega giggled quietly and Wade fell just a little bit more in love.

“My name’s Peter.” The Omega whispered tiredly. “I’m twenty-three and was out looking for a job when my heat hit. I’m pretty sure Weasel saved me, but I’m glad it’s you in here with me instead of him. Oh, and I’m sorry I took over your room.”

“Trust me, it’s fine.” Wade smiled fondly when Peter yawned, rubbing careful circles on the lean shoulder and tensing when Peter shifted up and brushed light fingers over his jaw. “…Everything alright?”

“Are you hurt, here?” There was none of the disgust Wade had feared in the Omega’s voice, just curiosity. “A scar?”

“It’s an old one.” Wade said vaguely, and Peter nodded against him. The high dose suppressants had brought him down almost too quickly, and now he was hardly able to put a thought together, so Wade softened his voice to add, “And it’s fine that you took over my room, honey. Don’t worry about anything like that.”

“You’re so nice for an Alpha.” Peter’s words were slurring again. “Why are you so nice when I’m such a bother? Why isn’t everything this easy?” 

“Because no matter what Weasel says, I’m full of sunshine and sparkles.” he answered blandly and Peter giggled again. “Which works perfectly cos you’re like a pile of flowers and moonbeams so we’re obviously meant to be together.”

He was teasing, but not really– not even  _close_ actually, and Wade’s arms tightened protectively around his mate as he said, “Speaking of moonbeams, you’re too sweet to be hanging out in this bar or even on this side of town. What were you doing looking for work around here, Pete?”

“I’m staying in the shelter on 34th.” In some distant part of Peter’s mind, he thought it should bother him to have another Alpha calling him what Harry used to call him, but it felt so right coming from Wade that it just didn’t matter. “This is within biking distance so I was out collecting applications. Need a job.”

“Huh.” Something  _furious_ twisted in Wade’s soul thinking about his mate living in a shelter, but he worked hard to keep it out of his scent so he wouldn’t upset the Omega. “You should try the diner on 47th.” He continued casually, thinking of the owner who owed Wade several dozen favors and about eight thousand dollars. “l know for a fact that old Mr. Toomes will hire you. Plus there’s a little place right above the diner you could rent. Get you out of the shelter.”

“Thank you.” Relief, mellowing in the Omegas scent. “I haven’t made it that far on my bike, but I’ll check it out tomorrow. With the suppressants working I’ll be able to-”

“Suppressants or not, you’ll check out the diner the day  _after_ tomorrow.” Wade corrected. “You need to rest tomorrow, this has probably been a super shitty week and you’re exhausted and need some sleep. Day after tomorrow.”

“Mmm.” Peter was yawning again, too worn out from a few days of hard heat and too grateful for the unexpected kindness to wonder why the Alpha was helping him, or why it didn’t bother him when this Alpha told him what to do. “Day after tomorrow then.”

“Right.” Wade took a chance and pushed his hoodie off, bending down to run his nose over the Omega’s forehead, and he rumbled in approval and surprise when Peter tipped his head up to bump their noses together sweetly, an answering purr making Wade want to  _melt_.

“Listen–” he cleared his throat to waylay the sudden instinct to pin Peter to the bed and smother him in kisses. “–Listen, these suppressants are heavy duty, so you can’t take them all the time. Just right when your heat hits to make it easier on you. That way you don’t have to miss work or anything like that, okay? You can only take them for a few days every month.”

“Okay, Alpha.” Peter agreed, going pliant in Wade’s arms as he slid towards sleep. “But how am I going to get more of–”

“I’ll bring you more.” Wade interrupted. “I’ll pay for them, Omega, don’t worry about it. You can get ahold of Weasel and tell him when you need some and I’ll get them to you. You won’t owe me anything.”

“But–” Peter started to argue, but Wade hushed him with a– “Any Alpha worth the name would help an Omega out with this sort of thing, alright?”

“I’ll pay you back once I start working.” Peter said firmly, or it would have been firmly if he hadn’t been snuggling closer and tucking his face into Wade’s shoulder. “I promise.”

Wade held Peter for a long time after the Omega started snoring. He frowned over the slight weight and the too skinny frame, felt gingerly along the muscles for any bruising or swelling, clicked his tongue when he felt the callouses on Peter’s palms.

He didn’t know next to anything about his Omega–not a last name, not a history, not anything but Peter scented like mate and that was enough.

“I’ll take care of you.” He whispered, and Peter shifted and sighed in his arms. “At least until you find an Alpha that deserves you.”


	3. Chapter 3

There was nothing remotely glamorous about delivering greasy food and wiping down sticky tables, or dealing with obnoxious customers who felt entitled to the world simply because they’d gone out to eat that day, but Peter still had a smile on his face as he cleaned up yet another cupcake mess courtesy of the toddler at table two.

It had been almost three months now since Peter had taken Wade’s advice and asked for work at the 47th Street Diner, and Mr. Toomes had hired him on the spot, no questions asked and no references needed. He offered the apartment above the stairs before Peter could ask after it, had volunteered to drive back to the shelter and pick up Peter’s other things, and by the time the sun went down that night, Peter had finished half shift at work, had a few bucks worth of tips in his pockets, and was falling asleep on his very own bed in what amounted to his very first apartment.

It had been that easy, and when Peter had shyly asked if Wade had anything to do with how well the day had gone, Mr. Toomes had abruptly changed the subject and started rambling about how the shift schedule worked. The Beta’s lack of answer had been answer enough and when Peter crawled into the bed that night, he texted Wade:

 **From Peter** :  _Thank you Alpha_

 **From Wade:**   _I have no idea what you’re talking about._

 **From Peter:**   _Sure you don’t_

 **From Wade** : _People like me for my sparkling personality, not my brains kiddo. What do you think I did that I definitely didn’t ever do?_

 **From Peter** :  _It’s weird to have my own apartment. But I like it_

 **From Wade** :  _Get some sleep, little Omega. Tomorrow you actually gotta start working to keep that adorable ass in your own apartment and you won’t have time to text me bull shit._

_His own apartment._

Not that the apartment above the 47th street diner was anything special at all, of course. There was a bed set in the corner behind a six foot privacy screen, a closet converted to the world’s smallest bathroom, and a kitchen that was only a stove top, tiny microwave and sink. It was noisy in the morning when the diner opened and it was hot in the evenings from all the heat from the ovens in the restaurant, and when the wind blew, the little windows shook and rattled and god forbid it rain– Peter had had to borrow buckets from the cleaning closet to catch water from the leaky roof the first time it rained.

It might have been the world’s worst apartment, but it was  _his_.

And the job was repetitive and sometimes terrible– after one particularly awful shift, Peter swore to himself to never be anything but polite and understanding to a waitress ever again because  ho-ho-holy  _crap_ was being a waiter way harder than he thought it would be– but he was actually making it on his own, paying his own bills and free from a life that had tried to force him to be someone he wasn’t, and  _that_ was enough to keep a smile on his face.

Well that and–

Peter’s smile grew when his phone chimed with a message from Wade, the Alpha dropping him a text just to check in like he did every single day.

 **From Wade** :  _Do you need anything?_

 **From Peter** :  _I’m fine for another week or so, thank you. Do YOU need anything?_

 **From Wade** :  _Right. Because you with your minimum wage job and decorative little apron has anything that I, a strapping virile Alpha needs. As if. You wish. Keep dreaming._

 **From Wade** :  _You can’t see it  but I’m rolling my eyes very dramatically. Hard enough to give myself a headache. You gave me a headache, you should feel very guilty._

Peter muffled a laugh and went back to scrubbing at the wall, flushing a little bit as he thought about the Alpha that had stepped up and completely changed his life.

His first heat after leaving the shelter had been awkward- a stammered phone call to Weasel with a request to talk to Wade, taking the bus down to the bar to lock himself in the back room because it was more secure than his apartment, gulping down the suppressants and literally crying in relief when his heat symptoms eased. Wade hadn’t come in that time at all and Peter had been sort of grateful for the privacy, for the chance to just sleep through most of what was happening.

But he’d been even  _more_ grateful when he buzzed the front so Weasel would know to unbarricade the door and Wade had been there instead, scooping him up into a hug and crooning soft things in his ear. Then had come piles and piles of food after Peter had cleaned up, the Alpha sternly telling him to eat as much as he wanted and then wrapping the rest so Peter had extra food to take home.

The heat after that had been less awkward, with Weasel poking fun at Peter as he headed towards the back room again and Wade showing up almost immediately with the suppressants. They’d had a few hours before heat set in all the way, so Wade had sat and talked with Peter, rubbing his back when the aches got bad, soothing him with quiet rumbles when the cramps started to really hurt and then excusing himself once heat actually started.

As soon as it was over, Wade was back and this time he held Peter a little closer for a little longer, his scent full of  _warmth_ and  _safety_ and enough  _longing_ that it made Peter’s breath catch, made his purr a little stronger when the Alpha rubbed their noses together sweetly. They shared the food that time, binge eating piles of fries and laughing over whatever shenanigans Wade had gotten into on his last job.

This last time though, Wade met Peter at the bar and picked him right up, carrying him back to a newly fixed up room, a new mattress and clean sheets and a fully stocked little pantry so Peter wouldn’t need anything. Peter had been shocked silent by the gesture, by the  _uncertainty_ from the big Alpha, and had pressed tight to Wade’s side for a long time before pulling away reluctantly once his heat set in.

After three rounds of the heavy duty suppressants, Peter’s heat only lasted about eighteen hours anymore, but he called out of work and stayed an extra night at Weasel’s anyway. He worked any and all hours available at the diner, so the chance to sleep in was too good to pass up, and the fact that Wade had curled up on the bed with him and held him close all night? Just a bonus.

Peter was fairly sure it was a trauma bond between them– the same rush of protectiveness an Alpha firefighter got for someone he rescued, the same willingness to help that a social worker got when dealing with hurt kids. A trauma bond, a protective  _platonic_ imprint that fully explained why Wade was going out of his way to make sure Peter was taken care of, that he was comfortable and settled and happy.

It perfectly explained everything except why Peter had been dreaming about the Alpha just about every night and why he’d been texting Wade for no other reason than to talk, and why he’d started looking forward to his heat because it meant he could spend time laughing at Wade’s absolute ridiculousness and cuddled up in the big Alphas arms and falling asleep.

It perfectly explained everything except why sometimes the Alpha’s scent sharpened with  _arousal_ and  _want_ and drugging  _desire_ before lessening into something easier, or why Wade’s touch was sometimes less gentle and more possessive or why he had quite literally stopped in the middle of a job and came back to the city when Peter had texted to ask for more suppressants.

The Alpha made Peter feel warm and safe and a thousand other things he didn’t know he hadn’t felt when he’d been with Harry. And somehow, despite Wade always hiding behind that damn hoodie– and one time, an actual burglar-style ski mask that had Peter nearly cry with laughter– and all the terrible jokes and the scars Peter could feel at Wade’s wrists and the general awfulness that came with being a mercenary–

–Peter was falling in love.

And if he honestly thought for  _one second_  that Wade felt anything for him beyond a protective, platonic imprinting–

“Parker, you’ve got a customer asking for you.” Mr. Toomes interrupted Peter’s day dreaming. “And if you wipe that wall anymore, the paint will start peeling. Give it a rest, will ya?”

“Sorry, Mr. Toomes.” Flushing clear to the tips of his ears, Peter discarded his dirty apron for a clean one, tying it around his back and grabbing his order pad. “Not that having that terrible paint peel would be the worst, right?”

“I’ll have you know, lemon peel yellow was a very  _in_ color when I bought this place!” Mr. Toomes interjected good naturedly, and Peter laughed over his shoulder as he headed towards his section.

“Hey, welcome to 47th Street Diner, my name is Peter and I’m going to– Peter froze when the scent of  _familiar Alpha_ swamped him, nearly sending him to the ground as his knees buckled. “H-Harry?”

_Speak of the devil._

_Son of a bitch._

_Why why why?_

“Heya Pete.” Harry held out his hand, and Peter took it automatically, shivering when warm lips pressed against his knuckles. “How’ve you been?”

“I–I–” Too distracted by everything about his new life, Peter hadn’t put much thought into how startling it would be to see his ex-boyfriend again, and for a few minutes he just gaped at the Alpha, stammering through a few disjointed sentences until he finally managed– “Mr. Toomes? I need a minute? I need to take my break now.”

The Beta poked his head out of the kitchen ready to yell about it, but one sharp glance towards where Peter was standing, taking in everything about the situation and he nodded, tapping his watch. “Take your lunch, half an hour.”

Harry’s eyes brightened when Peter dropped into the other side of the booth, and he squeezed the Omega’s hand gratefully. “I didn’t mean to surprise you, but I wanted to see you and MJ said you were working down here so I thought I’d drop by.”

“You could have called.” Peter said softly, pulling his hand away and folding them in his lap. “Instead of just showing up at my work. Why are you just showing up at my work, Harry?”

“I’m sorry.” Harry lowered his voice as well. “Really. I should have called, but I didn’t think you’d pick up. And I waited until five so I’d catch you at the end of the day so in case you got emotional, we could just go to your place or something.

Annoyance flickered across Peter’s face. “Five pm is only quitting time if you work in an office, Harry. I’ve got four more hours until I’m done for the night, so unless you’re here to eat, I don’t want you hanging around, it’s not polite.” He frowned and added, “And if you were worried about me being emotional, you should have waited until you knew I was off work. It’s not like I can just go home if I happened to collapse into hysterics.”

“Your boss wouldn’t let you go home if you were having a hard time?” Harry protested. “What kind of job is this?”

“A  _normal_ one.” Peter said flatly. “A  _normal_ job that lets me off a few days a month for my heat, but other than that I’m pretty much expected to be a functioning, agreeable waiter who doesn’t do things like burst into tears and flee the place because my ex boyfriend showed up.”

“Okay okay.” Harry put his hands up in an attempt to placate the Omega. “Okay. I’m sorry, I’ve never had to work a job like this, I don’t really understand how it works.”

“I’m well aware. Wiping boogers off napkin dispensers is a far cry from signing papers with custom inscribed pens at your $5000 dollar desk.” Peter smiled to soften the sarcasm, and Harry smiled back. “So what are you doing here, Harry? Surely you didn’t come by just to tell me how cute I am in my apron.”

“You are pretty cute in your apron.” Harry allowed, his eyes warming in approval and Peter– Peter was sort of surprised by how much he hated it. “Seems weird though, that you didn’t want to do the house Omega thing for me but you’d do it for a stranger? Cooking and cleaning and all that.”

Something like a snarl escaped Peter and he didn’t care to silence it, everything light about the moment disappearing. “Is that what you think I’m doing? Playing house Omega? This is my  _job_ , Harry. I have to pay bills now, I have to buy food. I’m not serving food because it’s fun, this is a total shit job but I have to do it. Do  _not_ compare this to me giving up school and a career to stay home and play wife for you!”

“Calm down.” Harry’s voice hardened and not to be cowed, Peter snapped, “What the hell are you even doing here?”

“I want you to come home.” The Alpha said bluntly. “If this is such a shit job, just quit and come home. I’ll get you back in school, I’ll get you into that testing program for the new suppressants. We’ll reapply for one of your internships and if you want to work full time for a few years then that’s fine too. Come home, Pete. Enough is enough.”

Peter stared at him for a full minute, his mouth open in shock. “ _This_ has gone on long enough?” he finally repeated. “What do you mean  _this_ , Harry? You’re acting like I threw a tantrum and ran away! We broke up! I left you!”

“Right, you left me and I’m willing to fix all the things you didn’t like so you come back.” Harry held out his hand again. “Come  _home_ , Pete. You look skinny and sort of shaggy and you’re working in some shit diner– don’t you miss our life together?”

“I miss– I miss a lot of things.” Peter hated to admit it. “But Harry, this isn’t about me wanting to go back to school or being mad because you want kids without talking to me about it. This is about you and your dad sabotaging the choices I tried to make because you thought you knew what was better for me.”

“We weren’t sabotaging–”

“You tore up my applications for internships that would have had me traveling away from home you.” Peter interrupted. “I asked for better suppressants and you wouldn’t help me get them because you thought I should just stay home and have a kid even though you  _knew_ how I felt about it. How is that not sabotaging me? Why would you ever think you could make those decisions for me?”

Harry’s jaw clenched. “I was your Alpha, Pete. I was your  _Alpha_ and I paid the bills. I had a right to expect some input on what you did with your life.”

Peter’s heart sank clear to his toes. “Is that– do you really think that, Harry? Is that really what you think?”

“I shouldn’t have come here.” Harry stood abruptly, apparently done with the conversation. “I thought you’d be ready to come home, that you’d missed me, or that you’d gotten tired of barely making ends meet but I guess I was wrong.”

“I guess you were.” Peter made no move to stand, blinking back tears as he stared down at the table. “Bye, Harry.”

“Pete.” Once Harry was gone, Mr. Toomes stepped out of the kitchen again, his voice soft as he said– “You still got plenty of time on your break, kiddo. Why don’t you head up stairs and get yourself settled down. Take a few extra minutes if you need. Hell, it’s a Tuesday night, slowest night of the week. You can head off if you want.”

“I’m fine.” Peter swiped any stray tears from his face and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I can finish my shift, I just need a minute and I’ll be fine.”

 **From Peter** : _Can I see you after work tonight? I get off at ten._

 **From Wade** : _Everything okay?_

 **From Peter** :  _It’s been a shit day_

 **From Wade** :  _I guarantee it hasn’t been as bad as Weasels. Some Beta came in for a celebratory shot before heading to the hospital to have her kid, but ended up going into labor in the bar. I thought Weasel was going to plotz, that guy has a panic mode that puts teenage girls to shame._

Peter laughed a little and wiped his eyes again.

 **From Peter** :  _Yeah alright, it hasn’t been as bad as Weasel’s day, but still pretty shitty_

 **From Wade** : _I’ll be there, Omega_

*****************

*****************

Wade sat in the sketchiest booth in the bar, clear in the back under the one light that had probably never worked at all, his hoodie up over his face as he sipped at his drink and waited on Peter to show up.  

He’d had to talk himself out of heading down to Toomes’ diner and causing a ruckus when Peter texted him about having a bad day, but that was nothing new. He had to talk himself out of causing a ruckus  _any_ time his mate was less than perfectly happy.

Wade struggled with keeping his protectiveness over his mate from edging into possessiveness, struggled with making sure Peter never picked up on how hard his heats were for Wade, how much self control it took to leave him alone just for the eighteen hours they were apart before Wade could hold him again.

He struggled with wanting to call Peter  _mate_ every time Peter called him Alpha and struggled every time Peter curled up close and sighed in that heart melting way, and struggled every time his phone buzzed with a text and he had to act like he wasn’t all of two seconds from throwing Peter over his shoulder like a gotdang marauding Viking.

Wade  _struggled_ , but all that mattered was that Peter felt safe and if that meant Wade had to fucking struggle just to breathe around that sweetly addicting Omega scent, then he was going to struggle to breathe and that was all there was to it.

“Alpha.” It was close to eleven pm before Peter made it to the bar, touching Wade on the shoulder and bending down to brush their noses together. “Hi.”

“Heya kiddo.” Wade fought back the urge to howl over Peter calling him Alpha–  _seriously struggling_ –  and pushed a drink at the Omega. “Drink up then tell me about your day.”

“Yeah alright.” Peter tipped the glass back and drained most of it in one go, scrunching his nose teasingly when Wade gave an impressed whistle and waved for the waitress to bring another one. “So first thing this morning, this old guy comes in. Orders a stack of pancakes–”

“–as geezers do.”

“–and extra syrup–”

“Gotsta lube that gullet, right?”

“–eats every bite on his plate–”

“– he had to do it to ‘em–”

“–then stands up and announces that the syrup is too sticky and made his pancakes taste weird and that he wants a refund.” Peter finished and Wade started laughing. “Yeah, good times.”

“Alright.” Wade handed the second drink to the Omega. “Tell me another one.”

“This group of soccer moms comes in for brunch.” Peter began. “All of them with that same stupid haircut, all of them wearing yoga pants and all of them seriously confused as to why the greasy, sketchy, borderline unhealthy diner didn’t serve frittatas and mimosas. Because you know, Toomes looks like the type of cook to have freshly made hollandaise sauce waiting for Sharon and Karen and Linda to split an order of eggs benedict because one serving has too many carbs?”

Another drink, another story– “At this point, the toddler has been screaming for like an hour, then finally his dad gives in and gets him a cupcake and the kid just smashes it on the wall. Doesn’t even hesitate. Grabs that chocolate bullshit and smears it on the wall. It looked like someone had just put their butt on the wall and–”

Beer came out of Wade’s nose and Peter cracked up laughing when the big Alpha screamed over the suds, wiping at his face frantically.

“Keep going.” Wade managed, waving a hand for what would be Peter’s fourth drink of the night. “But on an unrelated note? After that story, I don’t ever want kids.”

“On an equally related note, I don’t want kids either.” Peter confirmed and launched into the next story. “So Mr. Toomes starts yelling from the kitchen at lunchtime, something about a mouse and a louse or something? And I get back there? He’s shout reading Dr Seuss over the phone to his granddaughter. On speaker phone just  _shouting_ Dr Seuss rhymes as he cooks the burgers.”

“Adorable.” Wade declared. “Just fucking adorable.”

It was at the bottom of drink number five that Peter finally sat back and sighed. “Harry came to see me today and it sucked.”

Wade rumbled comfortingly– and definitely didn’t snarl thinking about his mate even being in the same room as another Alpha– and Peter continued, “It  _sucked_ , Alpha. I didn’t want to see him, I didn’t ask to see him. And I hadn’t really thought about how shitty it would be to actually talk to him again and I’m just sort of– just sort of a mess. It was hard to see him.”

“Sorry, Omega.” Wade said softly, and then–”Do you want me to kill him for you? Because I will. I’m fairly certain car accidents aren’t suspicious. I could have Weasel put something in his drink? I know a piano guy, I could definitely arrange for a piano to fall innocently from a second story window was he’s passing below.”

“Oh my god, Wade.” Peter rolled his eyes. “Stop that.”

“Or maybe an anvil?” Wade grinned when the Omega snorted with laughter. “I know an ACME guy.”

“Do you know a guy for everything?” Peter drained the rest of his drink and pushed it away, shaking his head when the waitress offered him another. “Like, do you have a guy for every day things and then another guy for dastardly things? Or is the good guy and the dastardly guy the same guy?”

“Oooh dastardly, that’s a good word.” Wade frowned when Peter stood up and sort of wavered, the Omega’s laughter just a little too goofy to be sober. “Where you goin’, Pete?”

“I wanted to sit on your lap.” Peter plopped himself right on Wade’s lap, curling up in the surprised Alpha’s chest and snuggling close. “This is okay, right? If it’s not you can just push me on the floor. But push me gently, I’m too drunk to catch myself.”

“Right.” Wade leaned back in the booth and put both arms around Peter’s waist, more than pleased that his Omega wanted to cuddle. “Because I’m going to dump your adorable ass on this dirty floor. It’s practically a bio-hazard.”

“You think my ass is adorable?” Peter’s words were slurring a little bit and Wade held him tighter. “Or should I be more worried about the bio-hazard thing? It’s the bio-hazard thing isn’t it? This place is  _gross_.”

Before Wade could answer either way, Peter continued, “I think the worst part about seeing Harry today was that he still doesn’t really know what he did wrong. He thinks I’m just upset, thinks I should cut all this out and just come home. But I mean– he  _betrayed_ me. He ruined me. All I wanted was suppressants so I could stay in school and I wanted internships so I could get my degree done faster and I wanted–” Peter’s breath hitched. “I wanted a mate who understood me and instead I got an Alpha who saw nothing wrong with making me give all that up and I don’t understand why–”

“It’s alright Omega, sweet Omega.” Wade whispered into Peter’s hair, rubbing slow circles across Peter’s back when he sounded like he might cry. “It’s alright. There’s nothing wrong with wanting school and work and all that sorta thing, the domestic life isn’t for everyone. Just because I’m a paragon of domesticity and a poster child for a perfect Alpha doesn’t mean that you have to follow in my illustrious footsteps.”

“Oh my god, you’re so dumb.” Peter sniffed loudly, wriggling and shifting until he was straddling Wade’s thighs, his forehead pushed into  solid shoulders, hands playing at the edge of Wade’s hoodie. “There’s nothing domestic about you. You kill people for a living. That’s the literal opposite of domesticity. The  _literal_ opposite.

“I’m hurt.” The words were strained, Wade’s breathing a little shaky the Omega pressed even closer. “I mean, yes, I kill people but there’s a more eloquent way to say that, right? Something about how I reunite their souls with the ancestral plane? You went to college, find a fucking synonym college boy.”

“College boy.” Peter laughed, soft and breathy and Wade’s heart rate tripled when the Omega’s fingers slipped under his hoodie to pluck at his shirt, then under again to smooth lightly over rough skin. “I think I like it better when you call me baby boy.”

“When do I- when do I–” Wade cleared his throat and tried again. “When do I call you baby boy?”

“Usually after you think I’m asleep.”  _Longing_ filtered into the Omega’s scent, and Wade’s eyes blurred red with  _need_. “When you hold me after my heat. You ramble a lot, say a lot of stupid things and it makes me sleepy, but sometimes I l’l wake up, and you always say, ‘go back to sleep baby boy, I’ve got you’. S’nice. I like it.”

“Excuse you sir.” Wade tried to sound affronted, but it was difficult when Peter was drawing idle designs on his sides, the Omega tilting his head so his breath puffed warm against Wade’s neck. “That’s my emotional support rambling after you’ve fallen asleep and I’d thank you not to eavesdrop on it.”

“Mmmm. Sorry.” Peter shifted so that pert bottom settled snug in Wade’s lap, and Wade’s hands landed at the lean hips, holding him still .”I won’t interrupt your emotional support rambling then.”

He shifted a second time and Wade bit out–“You  _gotta_ sit still Omega, you’re killing me over here.”

“Sorry.” Peter said again, but he sure didn’t seem sorry as he inched even closer, rubbing his chest against Wade’s and moaning low in his throat. “You feel  _good_ , Alpha.”

He was definitely exhausted and definitely drunk and Wade felt a pang of guilt for enjoying how handsy the Omega was, the way Peter’s fingers kept flexing at his back and those long legs hugged at his thighs. Wade knew he should say something, should put the Omega back on the other side of the booth and settle the situation down but fuck–  _fuck_ Peter felt so good and he was warm and comfortable and the perfect size in Wade’s arms and–

“Will you help me through my next heat?” Peter mumbled then and Wade nearly bit his tongue off. “I don’t want to do it alone anymore. Tired of it.”

“Um–Um–Um–” Wade scrambled for anything half decent to say, wrestling with his Alpha instincts so he didn’t fucking throw Peter down on the table and claim him right then and there. “Well I mean– I’ll post up outside the door with a goddamn rifle to make sure no one bothers you, if that’s what you mean. I don’t have a problem with that.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Peter leaned away far enough to peer up into the hoodie, trying to catch any glimpse of expression on the Alpha’s face, sucking in a harsh breath when he saw the red eyes staring back at him. “I-I want you to share it with me. The suppressants keep it short anyway but it still hurts to be–” his voice dropped. “– _empty_. And I won’t be empty with  _you_ there, will I Alpha?”

Wades growl was low and desperate, vibrating through their bodies and Peter’s head fell back with a pleased trill. “Omega, you’re too drunk to be asking this sort of thing.” the Alpha managed. “You can’t just– I’m not going to– we should talk when you’re sober.”

“Okay.” Peter nodded. “Okay, then I’ll just ask you again when I’m sober.”

“Omega–”

“I should get home if I’m going to sober up in time for my shift tomorrow.” Peter wiggled off of Wade’s legs, an entirely too wicked smile on his lips when the Alpha automatically tried to hold on to him. “Unless you don’t want me to leave, of course. Do you want me to leave, Alpha?”

“I–” Wade forced himself to let go of Peter. “Yes. I mean, no. I mean, yes, ask me again when you’re sober and no, I don’t want you to leave, but yes you should– you should leave. You’re very drunk and I might be a saint but even saint’s mess up every once in a while, yeah? So why don’t you–” he coughed and folded his arms, fighting against every instinct to stay put and not grab Peter again. “–go home and sober up and maybe text me tomorrow.”

“I know this is just a protective thing with us.” Peter struggled into his jacket, and Wade didn’t trust himself enough to try and help him. “I mean, I know you sort of trauma imprinted on me? And that’s fine. Because otherwise I know you wouldn’t look twice at me, but I think if you–” he tripped and nearly fell and Wade caught him, letting go right away so he wouldn’t be tempted to pull the Omega back onto his lap.

“I think if you gave it a chance between us it could work.” Peter finished, eyes bright with too much to drink, cheeks flushed because even this drunk he knew he was taking a risk., crossing a line between them. “If you  _want_ to try, I mean. If you could ever look at me as an Omega, rather than someone you want to protect or– or someone that needs protecting? We could try. If you wanted. It could– it could be easy, you know?”

“I–I–” Wade thought he really might be broken, his mouth open as he watched his mate duck his head shyly. “Pete. I–we– yeah. We could try. If you want. That’s–” god, he really  _was_ broken. “Yes.”

“My heat will start early next week.” Peter bent down and bumped their noses together, then dropped the lightest kiss possible on the Alpha’s mouth. “Think about it and let me know.”

 _Right_. Wade thought as he watched Peter leave. _Like I’m going to be able to think about anything else ever for the rest of my life_.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh yes, hello. This is pure nekkidness. And like, a dash of plot and a smidgen and a half of feels because they are precious. And Wade is snarky because he doesn’t ever shut up. But mostly this is nekkidness. Consider yourself (gently, politely) warned!  
> ******************
> 
> {{Also, I'd like to say thank you for all the great comments you all have been leaving on here, I avoided Spideypool for several months after I got a really terrible comment about my writing so this was sort of my first official foray back into it and I'm so glad everyone loves it!}}

It was a very groggy and very confused Omega that opened his apartment door at some godawful time in the middle of the night early the next week, but the confusion turned to a hopeful smile when Wade held up a box of heat supplies and managed a gruff, “This isn’t a trauma bond or a protective imprint, Pete. It’s not gonna be a chore for me to help you through your heat.” **  
**

The door shut behind Wade, and Peter’s apartment had never seemed smaller than when there was a huge Alpha staring at him with eyes that were slipping darker red with every passing second.

“You’re staying?” Peter whispered, and then just to be sure, “Not a protective imprint? You’re– you want to do this?”

Wade didn’t quite manage an answer, but the way he dropped the box of supplies and dragged Peter in for a kiss was answer enough. His hands were rough but solid at Peter’s back, his lips chapped but firm at Peter’s mouth, his tongue warm as it teased and coaxed and the  _growl_ he gave when Peter opened for him made the Omega’s knees weak and his breath catch.

“Gorgeous.” Wade rumbled and Peter stammered an unsteady– “Alpha?”

“ _Gorgeous_.” Wade said again and took Peter’s mouth a second time, rucking up the t shirt to get to perfectly smooth skin, spreading his fingers to cover as much as he could. “ **Omega**.”

“I need to see you.” Peter murmured when they finally parted, lips shiny and red from kisses, eyes glazed over. “I’ve never actually seen you. We can turn the lights off or dim them after, but I need to see you once. Just once. Okay?”

Wade jerked like he was going to say no, his scent washing with  _anxiety_ and  _nervousness_ but Peter whispered, “Please Alpha, please.” so he bent and let the Omega push the hood off his head, closing his eyes and holding his breath as he waited for his mates reaction.

When Peter didn’t say anything for a long time, Wade started talking instead, his eyes still closed, trying to fill the silence.

“You can change your mind.” He started, even as his Alpha wanted to  _rage_ at the thought of leaving Peter to go through another heat alone. “You can tell me to go and I’ll go. I realize this is fucking awful. But it’s not— it’s not contagious? I don’t have the  _ick_ or anything and no matter what Weasel says there was no hate fucking of any avocados ever? Don’t listen to him, he’s a douche. Real talk– it was cancer basically everywhere except my dick but actually, probably my dick too and I did some experimental thing and hey, don’t have cancer anymore but now I look like this. Even Stevens trade off, amiright?”

Peter was still quiet and Wade started to  _panic_. “I won’t mark you, Pete. Omega, my Omega please don’t send me away. I promise I won’t mark you at all, not even close. No claim or bond or anything I know you don’t want to be tied down to an Alpha, especially not an Alpha like me. And I won’t get you pregnant– I don’t even know if that’s an option for me anymore, but we can talk about that another time. Please don’t send me away– or I mean, I’ll go if you want, I will but–”

“Alpha.” A soft hand landed on Wade’s cheek, and he shut up abruptly, turning his nose into Peter’s palm and breathing in deep. “Alpha, It’s good to finally see you.”

“That—“ Wade took a chance and opened his eyes. “That’s all you have to say?”

“What else is there to say?” Peter shrugged, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth as  _hope_ flooded his Alphas scent. “You could tell me again though– this isn’t just a trauma bond? Not just a protective thing? Because Wade, I–”  

“Peter.” Hazel eyes flickered red and the Omega bit at his lip in excitement. “ _Omega_. If you wouldn’t have been so scared that first heat, you’d already be mine.”

“Oh.” A shudder ran through Peter at the possessiveness in the Alphas tone, and so close to his heat just the thought of being  _claimed_ made him slick between his legs. “ _Alpha_.”

“Suppressants first.” Wade allowed himself one more kiss then reined himself in. “Suppressants and some water and a little food o keep your strength up. Then we can—“

“Then we can what?” Peter took the pills in one swallow, chasing them down with most of a bottle of water. “Then we can what, Alpha?”

“Then I’d really love to hold you. For literal days. Want to hold you for days Omega.” It felt good to finally say it, to admit how badly he needed to get his hands on his mate and it felt even  _better_ when Peter laughed in delight, tilting his head and purring invitingly, all sweet and sassy Omega, flirty and teasing and clearly trying to entice his Alpha to just hold him right now.

“Food first.” Wade’s mouth went very dry when Peter stripped out of his shirt and left it on the floor, sashaying towards the kitchen in nothing more than low slung jeans. “ _Christ_.”  

***************

***************

“You’re being quiet.” Peter hummed contentedly as Wade traced lines down his body, stretching out further on the bed and purring under his Alpha’s open admiration. “Usually you talk a million miles a minute, you don’t have anything to say now?”

“I talked during all your other heats to distract myself from how badly I wanted to tie you to a bed and have my wicked way.” Wade bent his head to map the freckles on Peter’s collarbone with his tongue. “But I’m not gonna do that anymore. Fuck you’re beautiful, Omega. Do you know how beautiful you are?”

Peter shivered when Wade’s lips moved over sensitive skin, heart rate picking up when a big hand slid low to his hips, then even further down his thighs. “Mmmm, I know, but tell me again.”

“Beautiful and modest to boot.” Wade finished dryly and Peter grinned, closing his eyes and arching his back when Wade just lightly touched where he was slick and warm. “Do you like that? You want more?”

“I–” Peter started to answer, then paused. He’d put a lot of thought into how his first time with Wade would go, but he hadn’t really thought about  _how_ it would go. He and Harry had been together so long that the Alpha hadn’t even had to ask what Peter wanted or what he needed and it had always been good between them– if not the tiniest bit predictable–and the Omega felt a burst of anticipation knowing he would get to rediscover everything with Wade.

“More.” he decided, letting his knees fall open if only to see Wade’s eyes widen. “More of you, Alpha. Touch me, don’t make me wait anymore.”

Peter was  _tired_ of waiting. Wade had been surprisingly serious earlier when he demanded Peter eat after taking his suppressants. Next had been a shower while Wade fixed up the bed with a waterproof cover beneath the sheets and extra pillows in case Peter felt the need to nest before or after his heat. There were stacks of juice and boxes of snacks and Peter had just started to feel the beginnings of a heat daze when Wade finally  _finally_ decided everything was ready and tumbled Peter onto the bed and into his arms.

And it was different this time, different from the other times Wade had held him. Hands that had stayed above the waist before roamed greedily over every inch of skin as clothes came off and were tossed aside. Kissing was easy, so so easy Peter couldn’t  _believe_ how easy it was to kiss Wade, their mouths meeting again and again in gentle presses and teasing bites, tongues slipping and curling together.

Every kiss was as familiar as if they’d done it a million times, and as exciting as the first time all over again and Peter was drowning in it. Their legs tangled and fingers grasped and the first time Wade’s teeth landed over his pulse point Peter  _keened_ and the bed nearly shook with the force of Wade’s growl.  

Spurred on by the presence of an Alpha, Peter’s heat got closer and closer with every passing moment, driving up his desire and need until Wade’s eyes never once faded back to hazel, his Alpha  _surging_ at the scent of heated Omega, of  _his_ Omega.

“More of you.” Peter murmured when Wade palmed over his rear, snugging him tight against his chest and moaning when they slid together.

“More of you.” he panted as the Alpha nibbled barely there kisses down his throat and harder kisses over his bonding spot, bruises blooming purple and blue beneath blunt teeth.

“More more more.” Stars burst behind Peter’s eyelids when Wade lay between his knees, the heavy Alpha cock slotting against his own and making him throb and ache low in his core. “Alpha,  _Alpha_ I’m ready for you, ready for more of you, please.”

“Your heat isn’t on yet, you’re not ready for everything.” Wade’s knuckles brushed along the soft skin of Peter’s thighs, skating over and then away from the slender Omega cock that lay hard and red, flat against Peter’s stomach, leaking a steady stream of milky white into the hollow of his navel. “You still need more time.”

“I need to come.” Peter corrected and Wade muffled a laugh into his side. “I’m glad you think that’s funny, but it’s definitely not funny.”

“Settle, Omega.” Wade leaned down to taste along the sharp hip bone, a possessive  _hungry_ snarl from the Alpha when his tongue slid through the mess, smiling to himself when Peter mewled and a slender hand landed carefully at his scalp, pressing down to encourage him for more.  

“More?” he asked, just to be sure and Peter nodded, then  _shouted_ as Wade’s mouth closed hot and wet around the head of his cock, the Alpha not hesitating before swallowing every inch of him, not letting up until his nose was pushed into Peter’s stomach.

“Fuck–fuck– How the hell are you so good at this?” Peter couldn’t even get in a full breath, and when Wade hummed, the vibrations around his cock nearly made his vision white out. “ _Alpha_!”

Wade took his time pulling off, licking along Peter’s length before pulling off with a pop and grinning cheekily. “I eat a lot of bananas. And not just for the potassium.”

“Oh god, shut up and do that again.” Peter laughed and shoved Wade’s head back down. “I thought you only talked to distract yourself.”

“No, that’s when I talk  _overly_ much.” Wade circled his palm around Peter’s cock, stroking over it lazily as he watched a beautiful flush climb his mate’s body. “But talking in general is just what I do. Don’t you know that yet?”

Whatever the Omega was going to say was cut off by a shriek when Wade was suddenly tonguing over his slit, moaning low when he got a pulse of pre-come salty sweet for his efforts. A long lick from base to tip had Peter throwing his head back into the pillows, and when the Alpha hollowed his cheeks and took him all the way again, Peter’s hips jerked forward helplessly, a high, needy cry that echoed in the room.

“You gonna come for me, Omega?” Wade asked, twisting his wrist over the head of Peter’s cock just to hear the Omega cry out again. “Hm? Needy thing, you gonna come for me?”

The scent in the air changed, from heady  _aroused_ Omega to sharply sweet  _heat_ as it broke in full force and Peter was suddenly desperate, arching in the bed, fingers scrabbling at the sheets, begging for _more more more more!_  as Wade’s tongue played at him. Firm lips were tight on his length as Wade’s head bobbed up and down, taking as much of his Omega as he could and dipping two fingers low to press at the tight, slick entrance and Peter  _screamed_ as he came apart.  

He came in a rush, digging his fingers into Wade’s shoulders, hips stuttering uncontrollably as he spilled into the waiting mouth and the Alpha swallowed everything he could, his throat working around the still pulsing cock, not stopping until Peter was crying out from over-sensitivity, the Omega wrecked and trembling but still gasping for  _more, always more._

 _Heat_. Wade growled in satisfaction when the Omega dragged him up for a messy kiss, more teeth than lips and he growled even louder when he tasted blood and Peter only whined and kissed him harder.

_Yes._

_Heat._

_My mate._

“Look at me.” he said softly, but Peter was too far gone, eyes closed, mouth open as he tried to breathe through body racking tremors. “Such a pretty Omega.” Wade crooned, leaving one last kiss on slack lips before reaching for a pillow for under Peter’s hips. “Pretty Omega, look at me.”

“I want–I want–” Peter couldn’t even complete the sentence, lifting his hips and mewling sadly when he couldn’t feel Wade against him anymore. “Hot, Alpha.” he complained. “Hot and empty. Want you. Want you, I’m  _empty_ and I’m so ready—”

Wade meant to go slow, he meant to take his time and ease into Peter’s sweet body, he meant to revel in every second that his mate was stretching around him slick and tight and all  _his_.

But Peter was impatient, and an Alpha sized condom was smacked out of Wade’s hand before long legs wrapped around his waist and yanked him down. And Wade a  _lot_ of things, but he was not an Alpha about to say no when his Omega was panting and writhing and pleading–

Wade took Peter in one hard thrust and the Omega wailed when their hips met, threw back his head and wailed again when Wade ground roughly against him, the already swelling bump of his knot pressure at Peter’s rim.

Wade stopped long enough to brush a worried kiss against Peter’s lips, wiping a tear from his cheek. “Baby boy, you okay? Talk to me, Omega, did I hurt you?”

“Soooo good.” Peter gasped, his dark eyes blown nearly black. “Soooo good. So full, Alpha I’m so full  _oh my god._ ”

Wade withdrew achingly slow and Peter whined the entire time, digging his nails into Wade’s back and shaking his head  _no no no_ until Wade thrust back inside and the Omega could cant his hips up to pull the Alpha even deeper.

He meant to go slow, Wade really did but his control had been stretched too thin for too long and when Peter crushed their mouths together in an uncoordinated if not enthusiastic kiss, sucking at Wade’s tongue and nibbling at his bottom lip, that too thin self control snapped and Wade let his Alpha free to take what he needed.

Peter was completely blissed out, greedy cries punching the air each time Wade bottomed out inside him, the thick knot tugging at his rim with every stroke, every thrust sending his heat up higher and higher until he was delirious with it. Wade sealed their lips together to swallow each shout and desperate sob from his Omega, licking into the sweet mouth hungrily, so so eager for every taste of Peter, of his  _mate_.

Next time Wade would get his mouth between those long legs, get his fingers and his tongue deep inside the perfectly clenching hole until he had his mate coming apart that way too, but for now– for  _now_ it was enough to get up on his knees and drag Peter’s hips to meet him, the Omega babbling a constant stream of “Fuck yes, right there Alpha please please please, don’t stop, don’t stop!” and Wade just growled louder, took his mate  _harder_ , every inch of his cock disappearing inside Peter’s sweet body, shoving over a spot that had the Omega lighting up and wavering on passing out as his body wound tighter and tighter.

By the time Wade’s knot was fully swollen, Peter couldn’t even speak anymore, a tremble starting deep in his core and spreading clear to his fingertips and all he could do was moan when Wade’s big hands spread his thighs farther apart, the Alpha rumbling, “Are you ready for me, Omega my Omega? Ready for my knot?”

“Alpha….” Peter mumbled. “Alpha… yes…” and his eyes flew open wide with one particularly hard thrust, Wade shoving his knot past fluttering muscles and locking deep inside Peter’s body.

“ _Alpha_!” Peter shouted– or  _would_ have shouted, but he couldn’t even breathe, choking on the mind blanking rush of pleasure that shot up his spine and exploded behind his eyes. Wade was growling something in his ear, something possessive and sweet, but all Peter could feel was Wade’s hand on his cock, coaxing him through a shattering orgasm, spilling wet all over his stomach and Wade’s knuckles.

He barely registered the Alpha coming as well, his body seizing up and arcing off the bed when he was full  _so full_ , Wade’s teeth in his neck not quite hard enough to break skin and spark a bond, but hard enough for Peter to cry out and bare his neck for _more more more._

“Such a good Omega.” As soon as Wade could speak again, he dragged kisses up and down Peter’s throat, coming back again and again to the bonding spot, licking and nuzzling and rutting his knot deeper into Peter in an unconscious effort to  _claim_ , soothing his Omega with quiet assurances and comforting rumbles. “Such a sweet Omega, so pretty, so fucking perfect, you are perfect baby boy.”

“Mmmm, Alpha.” Peter was loopy, giggling and soft as being knotted broke his first wave of heat, overwhelmed on pleasure and murmuring any and everything that came to mind as he tried to get his breath back. “That was amazing, so good. Wade–Wade I think I love you. Oh my god, I love you.” He giggled again, lifting his hips and rubbing against the Alpha lazily, a sigh that was more of moan when Wade rolled them carefully so Peter was on top.

“You feel so good.” Peter tested the knot gingerly, flushing dark red when it pulled in his core. A body racking tremor of pleasure made him tighten around Wade, and they both groaned as the Alpha pulsed inside him again, Wade grinding their hips together and Peter whining at being so full. “Alpha.” He slurred, collapsing onto Wade’s chest. “Alpha, I love you.”

Wade didn’t answer, knowing damn well that anything a heat-drunk Omega said couldn’t be taken seriously, and instead wrapped both his arms around his mate and closed his eyes so Peter wouldn’t see how badly he wanted it to be true.

“So bad news.” he said instead of everything else he wanted to say. “I’ve decided that sharing your heat is too much of a chore. I’m going to require compensation for this ordeal.”

“How’s’about more sex in about an hour?” Peter yawned, wriggling lightly on the knot and smiling when the Alpha cursed. “I’ll let you tear this adorable ass back up in an hour as long as you let me sleep right now.”

“I feel like I don’t get a whole lot out of that deal.” Wade mock protested, and Peter laughed sleepily, budging up to lay a sweet kiss on Wade’s lips.

“Let me sleep, Alpha.”

“Fine.” Wade smoothed his hands down Peter’s back, palmed over the softness of his rear, through the slick just barely starting to dry on his thighs. Back up to bury his fingers in Peter’s hair, and the Alpha really thought he’d die of happiness when Peter started purring, snuggling into his chest and dropping off to sleep.

“Baby boy.” Wade whispered into the dark. “Baby boy, I’ll share this with you anytime. Anything you want, Omega. Anything at all.”


	5. Chapter 5

By the end of his heat with Wade, Peter was bruised from being held so tight and sore from being knotted and so tired that he slept for a full sixteen hours after it was all said and done. He woke up with a smile on his face though, glowing in the way that only post-heat Omega’s did, eyes shining and skin flushed and it was a vast contrast to how completely fucked out Wade looked– exhausted and dehydrated and worn the hell out because  _wow_ did heat take a lot of energy. **  
**

“To be fair–” he groaned when Peter jumped on the bed and clambered over to sit on Wade’s waist. “To be fair, Alpha’s gotta do all the work with this sort of thing. You just get to lay there and take knots. No wonder you aren’t exhausted.”

“I get to lay there and take knots?!” Peter’s mouth fell open. “Are you  _serious_ with that!”

“Don’t worry, baby boy.” A jaw cracking yawn, and Wade yanked the Omega down to snuggle. “You take knots like a champ. You should be real proud of that.”

“ _WADE_!”

Even with Wade’s less than stellar conversation skills, it had been a good heat and Peter was a happy, satisfied Omega.

He’d be happier though, if the Alpha had finished what he’d started so many times, and turned the bruises at Peter’s bonding spot into a full fledged bite, finishing his claim.

In fact, Peter would have been happy if Wade had told him _I love you_ back just once, but every time the Alpha had just tucked him close and kissed him breathless and left it alone.

It was fine. The Alpha wanted to take things slow and that was fine. Peter was a little thrown by just how quickly he was ready and willing to bond with Wade, considering how much he’d balked at anything resembling settling down with Harry, and maybe it was  _crazy_ but it was also easy,  _so easy_  to be with Wade that Peter found himself wondering why he’d wasted any time with any one else.

So they hadn’t bonded yet. It was fine.

Wade didn’t claim Peter the second heat together either, even though by that point he had moved the Omega out of the shitty studio apartment and into his shockingly nice place downtown.

“Uh yes, question?” Peter asked the first time Wade brought him home to the high rise complex. “Why the fuck do you hang out at Weasel’s if you have a place like this to come home to?”

“I dunno.” Wade shrugged and dropped the one measly box of Peter’s things in the bedroom closet. “Just didn’t feel right, didn’t really feel like I belonged.” His eyes flickered red then back to hazel as he looked Peter over with a possessive growl. “Didn’t feel like home yet.”

“Oh.” Peter’s hand went unconsciously to his neck, scratching over the disappointingly clear skin. “And now?”

“Apparently all it took is a hot Omega with legs that don’t quit to make it feel like home.” Wade held out his hand and pulled Peter close, burying his nose in the thick hair and rumbling approvingly. “M’glad you’re here, baby boy. Glad you wanted to move in with me.”

They’d gone shopping after that, shopping for everything from new sheets to dishes and curtains and then spent the rest of the weekend christening every available surface in the three bedroom apartment, teasing and laughing and saying “I love you” in a hundred different ways, but when Peter’s heat came on, Wade still didn’t bite him.

Well no, he bit him several times– at the juncture of hip and thigh just sharp enough to make Peter shriek, softer nibbles along Peter’s jaw, harder in the meat of Peter’s ass before Wade spread him open and took Peter apart with nothing more than his tongue and fingers–

But not where Peter wanted him to, not where the Omega  _needed_ him to.

So before his third heat with Wade rolled around, Peter sat his Alpha down and just asked him point blank– “Why won’t you bond with me?”

“What?” Wade froze with a sandwich halfway to his mouth, right in the middle of carbo-loading to prepare for the next few days since neither of them remembered to eat anything other than granola bars during heat. “What– what do you mean?”

“I mean, this will be our third heat together.” Peter pointed out. “And before this, you helped me through three other ones, even if you weren’t you know– _helping_ me. And I thought you’d bite me the first time when you told me it wasn’t just a trauma bond between us but you didn’t.”

“I thought it was too soon.” Wade swallowed a big bite and cleared his throat. “Our first time– I didn’t want you to regret it.”

“Well what about last time?” Peter countered. “You moved me in here and I know you love me and I know you imprinted  _mate_ on me, and obviously I–” he blushed and Wade didn’t think he’d ever get used to how precious that was. “–obviously I’m fine with it. Omega’s don’t imprint like you Alpha’s do, but I always knew you were good for me, knew I was safe with you, right from the start.”

“That’s good, sweetheart.” Wade’s voice was a little hoarse and he cleared his throat again. “I’m glad you always knew you were safe with me.”

“I did.” The Omega bit his lip and peeked up from his lashes shyly, knowing damn well his Alpha couldn’t resist it, and Wade proved his point by just chucking the sandwich and grabbing Peter up into his lap. “So why don’t you want to bond with me?”

Wade sighed, sifting his Omega’s hair through his fingers for a long minute as he though. “Pete, you don’t want a mate.”

“Sounds fake, but okay.” Peter frowned. “Why would you think I don’t want a mate?”

“You left Harry because he wanted a bond and kids and all that sort of crap.” Wade shrugged. “I didn’t want to assume you’d change your mind for me. Just because you feel safe with me doesn’t mean you want to deal with the glitter covered trash party that is my general self forever. And you’re so incoherent during your heat, even if you asked me to bite you I’d always feel like–”

He stopped, shook his head. “–I’d always feel like I took advantage of you. You don’t know what you’re saying during heat, in fact you should hear half the shit you say. Don’t get me wrong, I love all of it but if someone was listening–”

“If someone was listening?” Peter interrupted, eyes sparking with laughter. “And who exactly would be listening to the nonsense I say during my heat?”

“Fuckin no one.” Wade snarled, eyes red at even the thought of anyone ever hearing the way Peter talked during heat, anyone else being privy to moments that were meant to be between him and his  _mate_. “No one else listens.”

“Such a big scary Alpha.” Peter pushed their foreheads together and growled playfully, reveling in the freedom he had to tease and push and just be  _real_ with his Alpha. It was another thing he hadn’t realized he didn’t have with Harry and he loved that he had it with Wade.

“And by the way?” he continued. ““I left Harry because he refused to get me suppressants so I could continue school. He tore up internship papers because he didn’t want me working outside the home.”

“But you–” he inched closer, purring quietly when Wade put both arms around him. “–you’ve gone out and got me suppressants for over six months now. Yesterday you wrote out a ridiculous sized check so I can go back to school for the spring semester. I turned down a job last month because it meant an hour subway ride each way, so you offered to buy me a car instead.”

“You’re my mate, Pete.” The Alpha’s eyes shuttered a possessive shade of red again as he stroked his thumb over the bonding spot at the base of Peter’s neck. “And I’m gonna do whatever it takes to keep you happy, just like I did when we first met and just like I’ve been trying to do the last few months. You’re my mate whether there’s a mark on you or not, it’s enough for me Pete.”

“You’d make it that easy?” Peter whispered. “You’d give up the security of a bond if you thought I didn’t want it.”

“I’d make it that easy.” Wade confirmed. “I’m not going to try and tie you down like Harry did. I want you to be happy and that’s my entire extensive thought process on the matter.”

“And if I wanted to be tied to you?” There went Peter with that shy look again, all soft eyes and long lashes and hesitant smile. “What about then? Would you still tell me no?”

“The hell I would. If I knew you wanted me as mate I’d bend you over that chair and fuck you six ways to Sunday.” Wade confirmed. “And when your heat comes in a few days, I’m gonna bite the  _shit_ out of you.”

“You’re so romantic, you make my heart flutter.” Peter teased and Wade growled back at him. “I love you, Alpha my Alpha. Don’t you love me?”

“I love you, Pete.” Wade whispered. “I can’t wait to make you mine.”

“I’m yours, Alpha.” Peter whispered back. “I’m already yours.”

*******************

*******************

The internship at Stark Industries was everything Peter had ever imagined it would be, and he didn’t know how Wade had managed to even get him an interview, but Peter had been here for just over a month and it was  _everything_ he had ever imagined it would be.

And then it all got even  _better_ , when Tony Stark showed up at his desk one day to ask questions about the line of suppressants Peter was working on.

“So, no negative side effects?” The Alpha asked, flipping through Peter’s work. “Based off of blood types and specific biology markers? You know, this could be very expensive, manufacturing a different suppressant for every Omega out there. Expensive to the point of almost not viable.”

“It could be very expensive.” Peter nodded. “And lots of companies would take advantage of that, but a company as big as Stark Industries could afford to sell it at a lower price. Plus, if you provided it free of charge to the public health clinics and people on state insurance, then you’d get enough of a tax break as to make it affordable even for people who don’t have insurance, which means every Omega in the country could afford good suppressants which means we could work and go to school which only helps everything about the economy, right?”

“And also–” Peter took a deep breath and kept right on talking, taking the surprised smile on the Alpha’s face as permission. “– since suddenly having Omegas able to work consistently will raise the numbers of the work force, you could offer more scholarships and open up more internships to bring the best out of the bigger classes here to SI.”

“You’ve put a lot of thought into this.” Mr. Stark said, scanning a few more pages quickly. “Right up into my financial issues, hm?”

“Oh well–” Peter flushed nervously. “I mean–”

“No, it’s good.” The Alpha handed him back the file. “My Omega Steve struggles with suppressant issues, mostly finding correct doses for his size that aren’t toxic. Your ideas could change his life, not to mention the lives of several other Omega’s that I personally know, and of course, literal millions of Omega’s if your ideas actually work.

“I–”

“Let’s have lunch.” Tony checked his watch. “I’ll buy, you can talk. Do you eat shawarma? It doesn’t matter, you’re going to love it. Come on, lets go.”

******************

Later that night over a dinner of steaks and vegetables, Peter was nearly bursting with information about his day, chattering as fast as he could and barely letting Wade get a word in edgewise, and Wade just grinned over it.

When he finally slowed down a little, Wade snarked– “Enjoying the internship, are you?”

The Omega launched himself towards his Alpha, burrowing into his lap and mouthing over his bonding mark and biting at him with soft trills and purrs. “I’m so happy.” he muttered, squashing even closer. “So happy, Alpha. My life is everything I could ever want right now.”

“Well that’s real good, Pete.” Wade pretended to think for a minute. “And all it took was bonding with me, right? We should bottle that and sell it on TV. Is true happiness just finding the right Alpha? Is really that easy?”

Peter rolled his eyes, but his smile for his mate was very very soft. “I guess it’s really that easy.”


End file.
